Maple Leafs miss out on major free agent target

While the Toronto Maple Leafs were plenty busy as free agency opened up, general manager John Chayka was still shopping for another hit. Unfortunately, the one player that they set their sights on decided to not come to Toronto.

Claude Giroux was reportedly targeted by the Maple Leafs as he remained a free agent after the first couple days of the open market being, well, open. The 38-year-old forward might be up there in age but he feels almost guaranteed to score 50 or so points while winning faceoffs and playing a steady two-way game, as he has in his past four years for the Ottawa Senators since leaving his longtime home of Philadelphia.

Well, that dream is dead.

Claude Giroux says no to the Maple Leafs

Despite the Maple Leafs reportedly offering the most amount of money, Giroux has decided to stay put and re-sign with the Senators. And all of this is even after it was earlier reported that he is most likely going to return to the Philadelphia Flyers for his swansong. But no, he's going back to Ottawa and where his family has planted their roots.

It's hard to blame him, but he would have been a great addition to the Leafs. While he's not some perfect player, he really can play anywhere in the lineup. Especially with a big hole in the top six that someone like Easton Cowan is going to fight for -- Giroux could have even started the season on the right side of Auston Matthews and it wouldn't have looked terrible. He would have been a steady presence as Matthews and Gavin McKenna found their chemistry.

Well, we can just stop the fantasy right there because he's returning to the Senators, of course.

There are no contract details yet but we have to assume it will be a one-year deal with a low base salary and plenty of bonuses to give him a couple million more.

Last season, Giroux scored 14 goals and 49 points in 82 games for the Senators while averaging 16:18 time-on-ice.

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